Chapter 15 Human Commonality and Diversity

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2 Culture and Ethnicity Culture –the behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a particular group of people that are passed on from generation to generation Ethnicity –based on cultural heritage, nationality, race, religion, and language

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 3 Culture and Ethnicity Cross-culture studies –compare a culture with one or more other cultures Ethnicity studies –the study of universal and distinctive behaviors across ethnic groups Mainstream culture –a dominant set of values and expectations

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 4 Culture and Ethnicity Individualism –gives priority to personal goals rather than to group goals Collectivism –emphasizes values that serve the group by subordinating personal goals to preserve group integrity, interdependence of the members,k and harmonious relationships

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 5 Culture and Ethnicity Stereotyping –a generalization about a group’s characteristics that does not consider any variation from one individual to another Prejudice –an unjustified, usually negative, attitude toward an individual based on the individual’s membership in a group

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 6 Culture and Ethnicity Discrimination –the enactment of prejudices to limit opportunities to an out-group or extend privileges to an in-group Ethnocentrism –the tendency to favor one’s own group over other groups

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 7 Culture and Ethnicity Social identity theory –the theory that when individuals are assigned to a group, they invariably think of the group as an in-group for them Racism –the belief that members of another race or ethnic group are inferior

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 8 Culture and Ethnicity Assimilation –the absorption of an ethnic minority group into the dominant group, which often means the loss of some or all of the behavior and values of the ethnic minority group Pluralism –the coexistence of distinct ethnic and cultural groups in the same society

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 9 Culture and Ethnicity Improving Interethnic Relations –Superordinate goals –Intimate contact

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 10 Gender –the sociocultural dimension of being female or male

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 11 Developing Gender Identity Biological influences –androgen the main class of male sex hormones –Estrogen the main class of female sex hormones

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 12

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 13 Developing Gender Identity Social influences –identification theory stems from Freud’s view that preschool children develop a sexual attraction to the opposite-sex parent –social learning theory of gender the idea that children’s gender development occurs through observation and imitation of gender-related behavior

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 14 Developing Gender Identity Cognitive influences –cognitive developmental theory children’s gender typing occurs after the have developed a concept of gender –gender schema theory children’s attention and behavior are guided by an internal motivation to conform to gender-based, sociocultural standards and stereotypes

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 15 Gender Comparisons Physical/Biological Cognitive Socioemotional –rapport talk preferred by women –report talk preferred by men

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 16 Gender Expectations and Stereotypes Gender stereotypes –broad categories, exaggerated generalizations, and/or false beliefs about females and males Sexism –prejudice and discrimination against an individual because of her or his sex

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 17 Gender Expectations and Stereotypes Androgyny –the presence of desirable feminine and masculine characteristics in the same individual Gender-role transcendence –when an individual’s competence is at issue, it should be conceptualized on a performance basis

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 18 Gender Expectations and Stereotypes Women’s issues –feminist a person who believes that women and men should have the same rights Men’s issues –male role strain –males of color and while males

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 19 Religion –a belief system that individuals use to morally and spiritually guide their behavior Intrinsic religious orientation –religious motives that lie within the person Extrinsic religious orientation –personal motives that lie outside the religion itself

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 20 Developing Religious Commitment Stage 1: Intuitive-projective faith Stage 2: Mythical-lyrical faith Stage 3: Synthetic-conventional faith Stage 4: Individualistic-reflective faith Stage 5: Conjunctive faith Stage 6: Universalizing faith

Copyright © 1999 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 21 Varieties of Religious Experience Religious conversion –a change from having no religious beliefs to accepting a religious system, or changing from one belief to another Grand paradox –people who attend church are more prejudiced that nonchurchgoers